Lectures
by RM5183
Summary: "Ryan, do you still love her?" ... "Yes. I don't think I ever stopped."


Ryan worked for Newport Group right after college and is now a well-known architect at 24. He moved out of the Cohen's but is still living within the same neighbourhood in a small house he himself designed. Seth and Summer were now married with a child on the way. Seth worked hard as a graphic designer while Summer was a fashion designer; however she was taking a break due to the baby in her stomach. Sandy and Kirsten were still the same, working hard but loving people. Julie eventually made a career for herself, as an interior decorator; surprisingly, working alongside with Ryan and Kirsten at the Newport Group. Caitlin finished high school and is now attending school at Berkely, just like her sister; her sister, Marissa. Marissa graduated Berkely with Ryan. For the 4 years they shared in college, they were 'best friends'. But who were they fooling, they are never 'friends'. They developed a strong friendship, hanging all the time, being there for each other, and telling each other everything (except the fact that they are still in love with each other). As for a career, everyone knows Marissa is good at one thing: helping people. Whether they are psychos, brothers, or surfer jerks, she is great at always being there and caring for them. So she majored herself in psychology and human services and is now working at Harbour, as a guidance counsellor.

Everyone grew up to be happy... at least everyone, except Ryan and Marissa. Though they were both successful in the end, they still didn't have one thing: each other. No matter how much they still do care for each other, they are both scared in getting back together. They've had an intense on-and-off relationship back in high school, they didn't want to go back to it. Ryan didn't know how to confront Marissa with his feelings; after all, he wasn't the greatest with words. And Marissa questioned whether or not risking their friendship for another shot at love is worth it. In other words, they just ignored it and continued to just 'being friends'.

One day, Ryan was visiting Harbour for 'career night'. Each classroom and their own speaker and their own career. Ryan was in charge of Room 233. There he was to talk to the 'future architects of Newport'. It would be a great opportunity to share to kids what he does and encourage them to do the same. But Ryan just thought of it as, spending his night giving a lecture to kids about buildings. He really didn't want to, but had to. Kirsten specifically assigned him this job, knowing the past he's had, in hopes to show kids at Newport that everyone can have a career if they work hard. So there he was, in a classroom with filled with fifty or so 18-year-olds. He was also nervous because Marissa does work at Harbour, so she might be around. No matter how much they see each other, he always gets nervous around her.

"Hello everyone, so I guess I should tell you about being an architect..." he began.

An hour or so passed and Ryan was running out of things to talk about.

"Yeah, so just work hard throughout college or university and uh, work hard after that." Once his mouth couldn't come up with any more words, he just wrapped things up. "So any questions before we finish?"

For a moment, no hands were up. He looked around and before he packed up his things to leave, he saw a brunette girl raise her hand. "You, what do you wanna know?"

"Your name."

Ryan immediately felt embarrassed. "I guess I just jumped into things, huh? My name's Ryan Atwood. And yours?"

"Stephanie."

"Okay, Mr. Atwood," A blonde guy called out, "My name's Steve, and for the past hour you've told us about architecture and stuff, how are you living?"

"Excuse me?" Ryan was confused.

"Do you enjoy it?"

"Of course I do, it's my dream." He honestly said, although in a miserable tone.

"So why do you sound so... dead?" A geeky guy with glasses spoke up.

"I uh.. don't know what you're talking about."

"Look, Mr. Atwood–"

"Ryan. Please call me Ryan."

"Okay, Ryan," the glasses guy said, "You can call me Dennis. And I just wanted to say, you only told us what we already know. What courses to take in college, to focus hard, keep our options available... but you never told us about yourself. No offense but, you make 'being an architect' sound like a miserable career."

Before Ryan could answer, he heard a knock on the door. It was her.

"Marissa."

"Ryan, hey." They both paused as they got lost in each other's eyes. The kids around them tried figuring out the puzzle before them. "So it's my job tonight to keep things on schedule... I just came by to say you have an hour left."

"Right, okay thanks." She smiled at him and he returned it gladly. And the next thing he knows, she's gone out the door.

A kid whistles from the back. He turns his attention back to the students before him.

"Are you and Ms. Cooper like, getting it on?" Steve joked. The students laugh.

"No we're not. Now back to what Dennis said..."

"No, wait, do you like her?" Stephanie asked. She was like another Taylor, nosey, preppy and talked way too fast.

"Who, Mariss- I mean, Ms. Cooper? No!" He lied and began to blush.

"OOH! You so like Ms. Cooper!"

"Wait, you mentioned you graduated from Harbour, did you know Ms. Cooper then? She went here too."

"Yeah, we were... in the same graduating class.."

"There's history there between you and Ms. Cooper then, am I right?" Stephanie said, being nosey. But getting no answer. "What is it?"

Ryan couldn't believe how his night suddenly turned from architecture to Marissa. Just what he needed. "Look, I don't think it's–"

"Ryan, stop being so boring and tell us." He looked to the back to see an Asian girl with short black hair. She kind of reminded him of Summer. The way she was pushy and rambled on. "The name's Cindy... and you should know you're talking to a bunch of 18-year-olds. We live for gossip and drama and romance. Plus, our attention span for stuff like 'the future' can only last for so long..."

"Okay, fine. You all want to know?" Ryan questioned. He saw a number of nods shot his way. "Marissa and I are... good friends."

"Wow, really? Because friends definitely share romantic looks." A sarcastic Seth-look-a-like said from the front of the room.

"Ryan, you must be stupid to think we buy any of that crap." Steve laughed.

Ryan thought for a minute then sighed. "We were... we've dated."

"Ooooh!"

"I knew it!"

"Totally called it!"

He heard everyone say. He laughed at their reaction. "Yeah, on and off throughout high school. We ended up going to college together and are now good friends."

"Ryan, remember what Steve said? Not buying it." Stephanie said to him.

"No, we are... friends."

"But you don't want that." Stephanie looked at him.

"No, of course he doesn't," Cindy answered for her, "you totally want her. But because of your previous on-and-off relationship, you're scared, aren't you?"

Ryan was surprised. With such little knowledge of him, this group of 18-year-olds were able to figure him out for the past 10 minutes. "I... I just don't want to risk anything."

"What are you risking?" Dennis said, "You're rich, have a good job, but miserable. Ms. Cooper is hot. It seems like you are just making up excuses."

A red head shot her hand up, "Yes?" Ryan asked.

"Do you love her?" Ryan didn't answer.

Another hand shot up, a dark haired small guy, "What?" Ryan was getting uncomfortable with all these personal questions about Marissa.

"How do you know whether or not your designs are worth building?"

"What the hell, Eric. Right when things get interesting, you make them boring." Steve complained.

Ryan was relieved. Finally a question not about Marissa. "Well when you look at your design," Ryan began to answer, he looked back at the red head girl, who was giving him a sceptical look. His mind wandered off, thinking back to Marissa. _'Do you love her?'_ "I guess when you look at everything, you should know. You don't feel any doubts cross your mind you just know, this is the one, and I'm going for this one."

"What are you talking about here, Ms. Cooper or your designs?" Dennis asked, snapping Ryan out of his thoughts.

As the students kept bugging him about his relationship with Marissa, Ryan eventually started to open up to all the teenagers. He got tired of making up excuses and they were all getting annoying. "We had our first kiss at the kick off carnival. I was scared of heights; we were on the ferris wheel..." The girls went 'aww' as he continued with his romantic stories of him and Marissa. The guys just kept asking, 'did you guys do it?', 'is she a great kisser?', 'she's hot'.

"It was a bumpy, intense relationship. You'd be surprised with all that happened within the 2 years we were together."

"So doesn't that make your relationship all the more worthwhile?" Dennis asked rhetorically.

"Yeah," Cindy concurred. "You guys are still 'good friends'" She quoted with her fingers, "so obviously you two still mean a lot to each other."

Ryan took in what Dennis just said. He was right. Though there were tons of problems both he and Marissa faced, they were together. And the fact that he and Marissa are still getting along today, it does make it more special... right?

After 45 minutes, Cindy spoke again, "What are you waiting for? Females like the guys to take action..."

"Dude, I know you're much older so listening to an 18-year-old isn't your idea of spending a Thursday night, but she's got a point." Steve agreed with Cindy.

Eric shot up his hand, but Steve noticed, "Don't ruin this again, man." He glared at him.

Eric glared back and kept his hand raised high. "Yes, Eric..." Ryan allowed him to speak.

"Another question: you seem like a busy workaholic. Is it because of actual work or you like the distraction?"

"Ooh!" Cindy said.

"Whoa whoa whoa," Ryan said defensively, "I take my work very seriously. It's not a _'distraction'_ for anything... I work a lot and–"

"Ryan, I've wanted to be an architect all my life," Stephanie stated, "So over the past few years, I've done a lot of research about the whole architect lifestyle. It doesn't take up that much of your life. If you have a project, yes. But other than that, it's not like you're in the office 90% of your day."

"Well, I've been assigned multiple projects over the past few years, keeping me busy. My career is not a distraction from anything."

"Okay fine," Eric stopped the debate between Stephanie and Ryan, "let me rephrase my original question: are you occupying yourself with work all the time because you're lonely?"

"Wow." Ryan sighed. These kids were tough. "I just... I don't have a lot to do. So might as well make the most of my time."

"But there is something you need to do." Cindy pressed on.

"_Someone_ you need _to do_." Steve laughed, along with the rest of the class.

"Ignore Steve," Stephanie rolled her eyes. "You need to stop with the whole, 'I'm a busy architect, I must focus on my career'. Ms. Cooper's not going to wait forever."

"How do you even know what Ms. Cooper feels right now?" Ryan shot back at her.

"By the way she just looked at you for the 5 seconds you shared...? It's not rocket science." Dennis shrugged his shoulders.

"Ms. Cooper's my counsellor," the red head spoke up. She was very shy, so everyone around her was shock she spoke again. But to her, this specific topic made her very intrigued, she couldn't help but speak up. "She has a photo of you two, and two other random people, on her desk. It was taken the day you graduated from Harbour because you were all wearing your gowns. When we were talking about..." She looked at her peers who were looking at her, "...Stuff... she mentioned someone she loved, how she saved their life. Though it brought some trouble, she was glad she did it. How things in general, if we do it for the people we love, it's worth it all. She was talking about you, wasn't she?"

Ryan didn't move or speak. He was frozen.

"If she believes that, why don't you?" The red head said softly. "Take her advice Ryan, if you take this risk to be with her, the person you love, it's worth it in the end."

Ryan thought for a moment. This 18-year-old stranger, along with the other teenagers in the classroom, were all giving him advice during his lecture time. This was the last thing he thought the night would turn into, and he didn't know what to do or how to respond. "I... don't know."

Marissa was about to walk into the room from the door in the back, but it was left open so she thought she would just listen from outside.

"What don't you know? She's hot!" Steve said.

"Look it's more than that, I hope you know." She heard Ryan respond. What were they talking about? Definitely not about architecture. "Things are complicated and I just don't know if it's what she wants."

"Look, you gotta tell her what you want too. Be a man, Ryan." Stephanie shot at him.

The red head raised her hand again, "What's the question this time?" He asked her.

"Do you love her?" she asked again.

Ryan rolled his eyes and then saw Marissa from outside the back door of the classroom. He looked into her eyes and she looked into his. She slowly crept inside, but stayed in the back of the classroom, waiting for his response. No one else noticed her walk in except Ryan.

"Ryan, do you still love her?" The red head pressed on.

Ryan looked around the classroom and saw the faces of all the students then back to Marissa. They were all waiting for his answer.

"Yes..." he said, barely a whisper. He cleared his throat and spoke louder, "Yes. I don't think I ever stopped."

_Beep!_ The PA went off "_Attention students, thank you all for coming to career night. I hope this helped you out with what you decide to do in the future! Please thank your speaker before you leave. Have a nice evening._

"Well, umm. Thanks for listening to me. Good luck with your future..." Ryan said nervously. He tried to avoid Marissa's eyes, which were on him the whole time.

"Well, Ryan, it's been a blast." Steve stood up, shook his hand and left the room, and everyone else did the same.

"Thanks Ryan, good luck!" Stephanie said before she left.

"I hope things end up working out for you." Dennis said before he left.

"You too, good luck." Ryan responded.

The last student to leave was the red head. Instead of a goodbye, she looked at Ryan, "I'm in the same situation with my boyfriend. He's like you, doesn't talk much."

"Well, tell him he should say more. It'll save you both a lot of time. Don't do what I did, wait 6 years..."

"Thanks."

Before she left, Ryan stopped her, "Wait, I didn't get your name."

"Kate." She said turning back to him. She then noticed Marissa in the room. "And good luck with you and Ms. Cooper. You're both not teenagers anymore. This time, you guys can make it." She smiled at them both and took off.

Ryan went over to the door and closed it. He didn't want to turn around. He didn't want to face what was next. Face her. He didn't know what to expect from her.

"Ryan..." she spoke softly. That voice itself, Ryan could never stop listening to it. "Ryan, please..."

He turned around to meet his eyes with Marissa. Though she was still in the back of the classroom and he was up front, he still could feel the heat from her. The classroom was getting hot and he was becoming _very_ nervous, sweating bullets.

"I uh..." she waited for him to continue. "Hi."

"Hey..." she said. "So how'd the lecture go?"

"It uhh... it went well." He tried his best to look at her but it was too hard. But when he finally did, he saw those eyes. They were beautiful. "Marissa, I'm sorry. They weren't going to stop with the questions until I gave them some answers, I didn't know what to do.."

"Ryan, it's okay," She smiled. "I'm not mad about that."

"You're not?"

"No. I was a teenager before, I know they always get their way." She joked, getting a little laugh out of him. Once it wore off, she became serious. "So they know now I guess, about our history?"

"Yeah, I guess that little encounter earlier when you dropped in, they kind of picked up on that. That's when all the questions began spilling in."

"I'm sorry for putting all that on you." She apologized.

"No, it's not your fault. They were just being nosey 18-year-olds." He smiled his crooked smile, which sent shivers down Marissa's back.

Marissa kept asking him more about the lecture. Once there were no more questions to be asked, she became impatient. "So... are you ever going to tell me what that past part was about?"

"What?"

"C'mon Ryan, don't play dumb. You know, that question Kate asked."

Ryan looked up at Marissa, "That. That was just..."

"Did you mean it? What you said?" Ryan's head was spinning. This was all too much and it was happening too fast. "Ryan? Do you... still love me?"

The room was silent. It stayed like that for one whole minute. One whole, painfully, silent minute; however, their eyes never broke contact. Finally, Ryan spoke, "I meant every word I said. I never stopped."

Marissa couldn't believe it. She got that confirmation, which meant great news for them both, but she didn't know how to react.

"And if Kate asked you that question, what would your answer be? Do you still love me?" Ryan asked. He had fear written in his eyes. He feared the worst: she doesn't love him. "Marissa?"

"I... Yes. I still love you. Ever since I met you on the Cohen's driveway."

Ryan's heart beat faster. He'd been waiting for this moment ever since they graduated from high school. He moved slowly towards her, but she stood frozen. Her eyes started to water and he couldn't tell what was going on in her head. He stopped right when he was inches away from her face. He rested his forehead on hers and put his hand to her face. She closed her eyes when she felt him touch her cheek. _How much she's missed that feeling of his touch._

"I love you." he whispered. And with that, he closed the gap between them. Her lips were warm and he remembers now, how it felt kissing her. How much he's missed this. Soon after, she kissed him back and added more passion. She couldn't help but smile into the kiss. They broke apart to catch some air and she looked deep into his eyes.

"I love you too."


End file.
